Wordsmiths & Storytellers

“Do not let us speak of darker days, rather let us speak of sterner days. 

These are not dark days, these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived; 

and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, 

to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.”

                                                                                                  Winston Churchill 

Prime Minister of Great Britain

1940-1945; 1951-1955

This quote comes from an address to Harrow School in October of 1941 during World War II. The school had written a new verse for their school song as a tribute to Churchill, but the lyrics didn’t sit well with him, so he addressed it. Through his word choice, Churchill spoke into the heart of the nation and sent out a call to defiant inner resolve. He reminded the people of Great Britain that though the days might have felt dark, they had the capacity to overcome. That’s the power of words. They can define a movement. They can shape a society. But what of story?

“That’s what we storytellers do. 

We restore order with imagination.

 We instill hope again and again and again.”

                                                  Walt Disney

There’s a notion of romance about this quote, one that gives the storyteller a sense they can, through their tales, invoke a revolution of hope. The fact that it’s a quote by one of history’s most prolific and redemptive storytellers, Walt Disney, adds all the more weight. 

Both of these are solid examples of wordsmiths and storytellers, but I don’t think I’ve personally come across a storyteller as transformative as Jesus. His stories have lasted and impacted multiplied millions. 

There’s an interesting passage about Jesus’ storytelling found in Matthew ‭13:10-17‬ (‭MSG‬‬). It comes after he had shared the well-known parable of the scattered seed...

“The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?” Jesus replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight…”

Imagine being that kind of storyteller, that kind of wordsmith—one that nudges the listener, the reader to readiness for Kingdom insight. What a powerful motivation for telling stories! And what a responsibility.